I straightened myself and brandished Arondight, watching my foe warily. Now that it was no longer a speedy blur, I could see that it was a Sagittaur. But it was far different from the crossbow wielding variants that I had faced so far.
This particular Sagittaur was humongous, towering over me at a little above three meters tall from hoof to crown. Its muscular torso was thick like a wall, and sported four arms, each wielding a weapon. They weren't the same hi-tech weapons with crackling power fields that the knights of the Order wielded, and were a far cry from Arondight. Still, they were brutal, ugly pieces of lethal intent embodied within spiked maces, a huge, curved scimitar, a malevolently shaped machete capable of cleaving through pillars and a wickedly crafted axe.
Each one was perfectly capable of killing me outright with a single direct blow.
Despite its intimidating posture, I refused to back down. I could almost see the ancient technological relic that it was guarding, a piece of sterile technology that lay dormant within an advanced stasis containment unit at the center of the chamber. Why the Sagittaurs had assigned this single guardian here instead of an entire unit, I had no idea, but I supposed they thought this melee orientated beast was more suited to fighting in such a confined space than their ranged crossbows.
They were probably right. If there was a squad of Sagittaurs with crossbows waiting here for me, I would already have cut them apart with Arondight. As it was, I had to deal with this massive beast that was stomping down, forcing me to dive to the side once more to avoid getting flattened like a piece of roti prata.
Yeah, roti prata. This is a Singaporean story what. You think I will write pancake meh? Don't like that la.
The four weapons moved at a blur, the burly Sagittaur moving with an incredible speed that belied its immense size. They struck and gouged out huge chunks of granite from the rocky walls, sending rubble raining down on me as I dodged. I weaved through the streaks of crude metal, evading as best as I could against the barrage of strikes while retaliating with ripostes or countering with thrusts at its exposed flanks.
The Sagittaur snarled and grunted as it took a few cuts here and there, but to my dismay, I was unable to leave little more than superficial cuts on its incredibly muscular body. it was tough, and my pitiful mortal strength was hardly capable of injuring it unless I rolled a 5 or higher. In terms of value, the Sagittaur was probably a creature with at least Toughness 5 or maybe 6. As a normal human, I was only Strength 3, and even with the +1 Strength that Arondight granted me, I could only wound my opponent on a roll of 5+.
"…um, Commander, maybe you should stop equating everything with your tabletop wargaming system?"
"Sorry."
I ducked under a vicious swing from the Sagittaur's scimitar before jumping above its spiked maul. It slashed with its machete, cleaving a pillar into pieces when I spun away from the blade, and then dove aside as its axe sank into the ground I was standing on.
"A puny mortal like you? I can crush you in one blow!" The Sagittaur snarled as it yanked its axe out of the broken ground and turned to glare at me. I cocked my head to the side.
"You know, that has been like fifty blows and you've failed to land even a single one so far. I don't know where you're getting that confidence from."
The Sagittaur responded with an incoherent roar and charged forward. It stomped on the ground once more, this time with such force that it created a fissure. I had to run from the splitting ground, though I leaped up, planted a foot on the wall, and propelled myself off to spin toward the Sagittaur. It growled and slashed with its four weapons, but I twisted my body to slide through the gaps between and lashed out with my Arondight at its exposed chest.
My opponent howled and staggered back as I nicked its huge chest, leaving an ugly, cauterized scar that smoldered from the heat. It brought both upper arms down, the scimitar and machete combining in a scissors swing that would bisect me if I hadn't managed to plant a foot on its spiked maul and launch myself upward.
Cartwheeling above its head, I slashed out with Arondight to decapitate it, but it managed to duck its head just in time to avoid my glowing blade. All I left was a shallow cut that stretched from its scalp across the back of its neck, and it hissed in pain before kicking out with its rear legs.
"Whoa!"
I spun around in midair and parried his hooves with Arondight, but the immense impact almost jarred my sword from my hands and hurled me across the chamber. I slammed into the far side of the wall and slumped down with a grunt, the wind completely knocked out of me.
"Ugh…"
What a formidable foe. Breathing heavily, I slowly rose to my feet and caught sight of the four-armed Sagittaur approaching me with gleeful malice, eager to finish me off.
Sliding to the side, I avoided getting chopped by its axe, and then I deflected its scimitar to the side before jumping above its maul. Then I turned and yelled out a command.
"Aegis!"
My shield teleported inside the chamber, separating into four different components to parry and block the four separate weapons that my opponent wielded. It snarled in frustration at being denied, but I seized the opportunity to counterattack. The Sagittaur stepped back to avoid being stabbed by Arondight, withdrawing one of its weapons to block, and when it retaliated with a backhanded swing, one of Aegis's components soared swiftly to intercept its axe.
While Aegis danced around me, defending me from every lethal hit, I struck with Arondight, swift precise strokes that darted through the Sagittaur's defenses and left cauterized wounds. However, it only served to make the colossal centaur angrier, and it redoubled its efforts, only to have its attacks glance off a stubborn Aegis. I then nearly eviscerated it across the abdomen, and it cautiously retreated a few steps, eying me warily.
However, its composure didn't last long. Its eyes glazed over and it seemed to give in to some sort of berserker rage, frothing at the mouth as it charged forward. I nodded at Aegis, and her four separate components hovered around me, ready to defend whenever necessary.
The Sagittaur struck me almost like a truck, its weapons clattering against my floating shields. I dashed forward while its four arms were occupied and thrust with Arondight, but it pulled back a machete to parry. Not wasting any time, I leaped off the ground and spun about to kick it in the head, knocking it to its knees.
This was my best opportunity to behead it, and I didn't waste the chance. Nonetheless, the Sagittaur wasn't going to obediently sit still and let me decapitate it. with a snarl, it crossed its machete and scimitar to parry the blow, and then lashed out with its axe and maul from the sides at what appeared to be my exposed flanks.
Once again, Aegis came to my rescue, swerving in to intercept the blows. I could almost feel the sparks at the near miss, but I didn't pay it much attention. I trusted Aegis to protect me so I focused on attacking. With the Sagittaur occupied by Arondight bearing down on its head, I ground my feet against the ground before flipping myself up and kicking it in the jaw, tossing its head back in a violent blow. The Sagittaur grunted, its eyes rolling in its sockets, and its four arms slackened for a second.
That was all the time I needed.
Driving Arondight into its chest, I tried to obliterate its heart. Honestly, I didn't know if aliens had the same organs that we did, and even if they did possess hearts, it might not necessarily be in the same place as other animals. Nonetheless, it was a good guess, given its humanoid torso and similar shape to centaurs and other terrestrial organisms, but even so, my thrust was slightly off the mark. Arondight punched through thick muscle and reinforced ribs, puncturing a lung and rupturing countless blood vessels.
With a roar, the Sagittaur lurched and tossed me off with a jerk of its torso, its weapons clashing once more against Aegis. I was somehow able to keep my grip on Arondight and yank him out of the Sagittaur's chest, though I suspected the crackling power field made it easy for me to slice a cavity through the alien centaur's mauled chest.
Cartwheeling about, I landed clumsily on my feet and glanced up to see the Sagittaur staggering. It was in too much pain to charge forward and stomp on me, and when it finally did so, its movements were sluggish. Its breathing had grown heavier and its speed was slowed considerably, blood leaking from its nostrils and mouth.
An Andalite, this was not.
Ducking to the side when it swung its scimitar at me, I left the other three weapons to Aegis and stabbed with Arondight once more. This time, the black blade bit deeply into its side, and I was able to scythe downward and cut off a leg. The Sagittaur stumbled and fell, and I reversed Arondight and did a back stroke that amputated one of its four arms at the elbow, sending an axe spinning.
The Sagittaur desperately stabbed with its scimitar and slashed with its machete. I allowed Aegis to parry the latter, but I deflected the scimitar before twirling Arondight about and cutting its hand off at the wrist, disarming it. Roaring, the Sagittaur bashed me with its spiked maul, but Aegis intercepted it before I darted from behind her and loped off the arm viciously.
There was little blood spilled because the heated disruptive field of Arondight had cauterized the wounds, leaving smoldering stumps that were probably much more painful and debilitating than normal injuries. Nonetheless, I didn't feel sorry for the Sagittaur. It tried to kill me, and hence I would do my best to fight back.
I wasn't such a saint that I would spare the life of an enemy who was trying to kill me. Of course, if it had surrendered and was completely helpless, it was a different story, but the Sagittaur was still lunging at me with its final remaining arm, its machete posed for a decapitating swing.
Staying where I was, I allowed Aegis to dash in and deflect the blow, her course angled in such a way that she was able to alter its trajectory and use its momentum against it. Thrown off balance, the Sagittaur continued to stumble forward, past me. I waited for it to stagger past before whirling around and beheading it with a single blow. Arondight sent its head flying and smacking unceremoniously against the wall before I deactivated his glowing power field.
"Phew."
The adrenaline expired and I went limp, the strength leaving my body as I dropped to my knees. Leaning on Arondight, I cautiously scanned the area with the sensors embedded in my glasses before standing shakily and proceeding toward the containment pod.
"Hey, kid!"
Behind me, the debris at the remains of the door finally shook loose. Shang Xiao, boosted by his psychic ability that belonged to the faculty of Strength, had bodily lifted and heaved the rubble away from the entrance so that he and Lin Xue could enter.
"You okay, kid?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Damn, that seems like quite the opponent," Lin Xue remarked, taking in the grisly sight of the disembodied Sagittaur. "That alien seems different from all the others. A variant specialized in melee, I suppose?"
"I assume so. I think the Sagittaurs are capable of genetic modification like we are, and have specially prepared close combat variants like this." I exhaled wearily and returned my attention to the ancient technological relic waiting for me inside the pod. "Now let's see what this Sagittaur was guarding."